Once More With Feeling
by Travis Castiel Olivera
Summary: Defeating the Didact came with a lot of sacrifice including what he thought was his own life. But now the Chief has a new experience to explore and a new place to save. He has sacrificed so much to save the world, and when asked to sacrifice more can he actually comply with his own agreements.
1. Chapter 1-1

Walking across the hardlight bridge the Master Chief, swept the area for any sign of the Didact.

"You persist too long after your own defeat," the Didact voice broke out causing the Chief to spin around only to be smacked away by the Didact's telekinesis like ability. "Come then warrior, have your resolution."

Coming to the halt the Chief glanced between the nuke and the Didact repeatedly before making a dash for the nuke only to be stopped in his tracks just short of it. Lifting the Chief up the Didact swung him through the air and held him off the edge of the bridge.

"So misguided," the Didact began as his helmet disassembled to show his face a disgusted and hateful look upon it. "Humanity's imprisonment is a kindness." Stopping as he noticed the bridge flickering and the appearance of several Cortana's, a sudden glimpse of fear broke across his face before quickly dissipating.

"In that case, you won't mind if we return the favor," they all said in unison.

"Your compassion for mankind is misplaced!" The Didact snarled.

"I'm not doing this for mankind!" The collection of Cortana's replied passionately their eyes shifting toward the suspended Spartan before turning back toward the Didact. Leaping forward they ensnared the Forerunner one by one, causing his control of the Chief's suspension to lapse.

Grabbing the bridge with one hand the Chief pulled himself up and rushed the Didact planting a pulse grenade in his armor. Getting smacked away in the process only to be lifted up immediately by the Didact. The Chief was lifted only a few feet in the air before the grenade exploded sending the Didact into the orange veil below.

Half crawling and half stumbling the Chief eventually made it over to the nuke. Grabbing the nuke he pulled the ignition source back before glancing up at Earth wanting to see it one last time before he died. Lifting up his hand he slammed it down on the ignition source causing the chain reaction to ignite the HAVOK class nuke.

A blinding flash of light filled his vision before dissipating after a few minutes. Glancing around at his surrounds he found himself inside a bubble made out of hardlight from the bridge. "Cortana, Cortana do you read…," he asked slight desperation entering his voice however faint it was. "Cortana come in."

Hearing a noise behind him he turned around and came face to face with Cortana, as she walked toward him. "How…?" He asked taking a step toward her causing an amused smile to cross her face.

"Oh, I'm the strangest thing you've seen all day?" she asked as her smiled slowly dissipated and was replaced with sadness.

"But if we're here.." he started only to be interrupted by Cortana. "It worked. You did it. Just like you always do."

"So how do we get out of here?"

A stricken look cross Cortana's face as her voice was filled with sorrow, "I'm not coming with you this time."

"…What?" His reaction both made her happy and saddened her even further, to know that he would miss her as much as she would him made her happy but then at the same time saddened her because this would be the last moments they had together. "Most of me is down there. I only held enough back to get you off the ship."

"No! That's not." He stopped seemingly at a lost for words in his desperation. "We go together."

"It's already done." She replied.

"I am not leaving you here!"

A sudden dam of emotion broke through Cortana's restraints and she stepped closer to him placing a hard on his chestplate. "John…" she started. "I've waited so long to do that."

Glancing down at her, sadness filled his voice, "It was my job to take care of you."

Turning her head to look him in the visor she reassured him. "We were supposed to take care of each other… and we did."

"Cortana…please," he said as she took his hand. Giving him a sad look she let go and started to back away. "Wait…"

"Welcome home John." She said as she disappeared into the barrier surrounding them. Pieces of the Didacts ship falling all around them as a blinding light occurred once more.

_**Hey everyone its me again, so if youre wondering where ive been well that's a long story. Lost all my previous stories but in time when I get the plot under my control again I will once more take over my stories. Till then I had this little plot come into my head. This is just a preview I will upload the rest of the chapter later but I wanted to get this out and hear the response. After I post the continuation I will post longer chapters that are not in parts.**_

_**Review please and let me know. **_

_**Travis Castiel Olivera**_


	2. Chapter 1-2

Watching the embryonic human Reaper fall after taking down its supports gave Commander Shepard an immense feeling of joy but as quickly as it came it disappeared as she still had to get everybody back to the Normandy safely. Glancing at Garrus and Miranda she activated her comm, "Shepard to ground team, status report."

"It's Thane. We are holding, but they keep coming. A quick exit is preferable." Thanes voice breaking through the background noise of gunfire and explosions.

Letting out a sigh of relief that her team was still alive, "Get back to the Normandy." Crouching down she grabbed the handle on the panel and lifted it up. "Joker, prep the engines, I'm about to overload this place and blow it sky high."

"Roger that Commander," Joker replied before hesitating. "Uh Commander, I've got and incoming signal from the Illusive Man. EDI's patching it through."

This prompted Miranda to activate her omni-tool creating a hologram of the Illusive Man. "Shepard you've done the impossible." Barely bothering to glance back at him, she continued tampering with the device. "I was part of a team. All of which constantly put their lives on the line for this mission."

"I know. Their determination and sacrifice will not be forgotten. You did what you had to do, and you acquired the Collector base." She never liked the Illusive Man or Cerberus and hated that she had to rely on his support because she had none from anyone else but her crew. Hearing his "sympathetic" remark about her crew made her sick. She knew he didn't care about anyone but himself, sure he spouted his "make humanity greater" speech all the time, but in reality all he wanted was to have absolute power for himself.

"I'm looking at the schematics EDI uploaded. A timed radiation pulse would kill the remaining Collectors, but leave the machinery and technology intact," he continued bring his fist into the air and closing it causing her to laughing inwardly at his ridiculous and unnecessary hand movements. "This is our chance Shepard. They were building a Reaper. That knowledge… that framework… could save us."

She didn't consider herself to be an easily angered person, but as he continued on through his little speech she felt her anger about to boil over. Spinning around angrily she poked his holographic chest, it didn't have the same impact as if he was there but it got the message across. "You're out of your goddamn mind!" she yelled. "They liquefied people, millions of innocent people. Twisting their very essence into something horrible, and you want to preserve that! No, that is absolutely not going to happen we need to destroy this base!"

Returning her glare with his own, the Illusive Man tried to persuade her otherwise. "Don't be short-sighted. Our best chance against the Reaper threat is to turn their own resources against them."

"I'm not so sure," Miranda inputted as Shepard gave her a grateful look. "Seeing it firsthand… using anything from this base seems like betrayal."

"If we ignored this opportunity, that would be a betrayal. They were working directly with the Collectors. Who knows what information is buried there?" The Illusive Man sounded like he was starting to get desperate. "This base is a gift. We can't just destroy it."

"You're completely ruthless. The next thing I know you'll be wanting to grow your own Reaper."

"My goal is to save humanity from the Reapers. At any cost. I've never hidden that from you. Imagine how many lives could be saved if we keep this base intact and use its knowledge to thwart the Reapers. Imagine the lives that will be lost if we don't."

"We both know that's bullshit, your goal may have been to save humanity." Shepard began, getting more tired with this conversation the longer it went on. "But that goal has changed since you started. Look at yourself; look at what you have done! Chasca and Akuze are testaments to how far gone you've become." The look of indifference that remained on his face gave her all of the confirmation that she needed.

"Shepard. You died fighting for what you believed. I brought you back so you could keep fighting. Some would say what we did to you was going too far. But look at what you've accomplished. I didn't discard you because I knew your value. Don't be so quick to discard this facility. Think of the potential."

"Yes, I died fighting for what I believed; you brought me back to keep fighting but that doesn't mean I am going to become what you've become. We will win this war without this facility." Turning back to the device she continued modifying it to overload.

"Miranda," the Illusive Man ordered spinning around. "Do not let Shepard destroy the base!"

"Or what," Miranda retorted cynically. "You'll replace me next?"

"I gave you an order Miranda!"

"Hmm, I noticed. Consider this my resignation."

Finally realizing exactly how much control of the situation he was loosing he turned back desperately. "Shepard, Think about what's at stake. About everything Cerberus has done for you. You-" Miranda cut off the communications feed stopping him mid rant before walking over to Shepard and handing her the bomb. Taking the explosive Shepard attached it to the reactor core and set the timer for ten minutes.

"Let's move. We've got ten minutes before the reactor overloads and blows this whole station apart."

The squad began to walk away when the human Reaper reared its ugly head once more.

"Take cover," Shepard ordered as she systematically drew her M-98 Widow and dove for cover. "EDI give me something on this thing, anything really."

"It has several weak spots on its armor including its eyes, its mouth and the chest region-"

"If it's male then another part of its anatomy can be too, oh wait it hasn't developed yet…so sad." Joker interrupted over the comms. "I'm only kidding Commander, basically anything that glows on the bastard is its weak spot."

Quickly ducking as the Reaper began to fire, "Joker, when this is over I'm going to make you sit through a seminar about when it is appropriate to make jokes in a combat! Garrus and Miranda, when he stop to fire take out his eyes."

Activating her cloaking device she leant around the wall and aimed at Harbinger and hit him with and incinerate before shooting him in the head killing him and causing her cloak to deactivate. Jumping back into cover as the Reaper began to fire the group took out the few Collectors that showed up while waiting for Reaper to show up again. As soon as it reappeared she took aim at one of the right eyes while Garrus focused on the other with his Mantis leaving Miranda to focus on the left eye. After repeating this method a few more times Shepard saw that Reaper was almost finished.

"Miranda, when it reappears use your biotics to throw me up to it."

"Are you out of your mind Shepard!" A confused and possibly concerned look crossing Miranda's face.

"Just do it!"

Despite her feeling against the choice of the Commander; as soon the Reaper presented itself again Miranda reached out to Shepard with her biotics and tossed her towards the menacing machine. Landing the ridge of its eyes, she activated all of her grenades and stuck them to the Reapers eye before shooting it point-blank with the anti-material rifles armor piercing round and back flipping off relying on Miranda's biotics to catch and slow her descent. The Reaper began to explode just as she landed; unfortunately the close proximity of the machine caused it to hit the platform as it fell once more. Seeing Miranda sliding down the tilting platform Shepard dove forwards grabbing her hand before she slid into the dark abyss below. Quickly getting to their feet they look around for an exit only to having a rogue platform fly into them creating a collision course for the nearest wall.

Having been knocked unconscious on impact Shepard awoke a few moments later lifting the small metal wall that fallen on her before assisting Garrus and Miranda.

"Do you copy? Commander? Come on, Shepard, don't leave me hanging. Do you copy?" Jokers voice crackling through the channel.

"I'm here, Joker. Did the ground team make it?"

"Everyone is on board. We're just waiting on you."

Seeing the seeker swarms coming toward them, she pushed the team to move while taking a moment to shoot at them. "Human, you've changed nothing." Harbinger's voice broke out. "Your species has the attention of those infinitely your greater. That which you know as Reapers are your salvation through destruction."

More and more Collectors began to spot them and pursue immediately, the squad dodging bullets and explosions as they ran. Reaching the end of the pathway, the Normandy rose up into sight appearing before the squad as a guardian angel. The airlock opened and Joker with some of the crew began laying down cover fire as the base fell apart around them. Garrus and Miranda made it on the Normandy but before Shepard could get there a falling support structure took out the platform. Determination to get out of this alive filled her as she jump across the gap and grabbed onto the edge of the airlock. Miranda assisting her with climbing up as the Normandy began to turn around. As soon as the airlock closed Joker limped as fast as he could to the bridge as EDI's voice rang out. "Detonation in ten, nine, eight-"

"Yeah, I get the gist of it EDI, hold on." Joker interrupted as he slid back into the seat and flew the Normandy out as fast as he could. The base exploding as the Normandy flew out and past it headed for the Relay.

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**Once More With Feeling**

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Inside the Normandy it was a wreck, wiring was hanging from the ceiling shooting sparks from them every now and then. Support structures had broken and pieces of metal had fallen over blocking pathways. Sighing as she moved through the ship towards the communications section, stopping occasionally to move pieces metal out of the way. She just had one more piece of business to take care of and then she could relax, 'Well relax at least somewhat," she thought before standing inside the holographic quantum entanglement array.

"Shepard. You're making a habit of costing me more than time and money," the Illusive Man started as he appeared.

"Too many lives were lost on that base and I personally, don't give a damn what you think. I'm glad that place is gone." She rebutted.

"The first of many lives. The technology from that base could've secured human dominance in the galaxy. Against the Reapers and beyond."

"Human dominance or yours."

"Strength for Cerberus," he replied emphasizing 'Cerberus' as if that would reassure her. "Is strength for every human. Cerberus is humanity. I should've known you'd choke on the hard decisions. Too idealistic from the start."

Shaking her head and laughing, "You still think I'm looking for your approval, well I'm not. Guess what neither is anyone else, now Harbinger is coming and sure as hell won't be alone. Humanity needs a leader who's looking out for them, not throwing them to the thresher maws. From now on I'm doing things how I want to do them, so you can deal with it."

The Illusive Man took a step forward angrily as while waving his cigarette holding hand, "Don't you turn your back on me, Shepard! I made you. I brought you back from the dead!"

"That's nice, and I appreciate it but Joker trash this channel." Shepard replied as she walked away.

"Commander, I have something you should take a look at." Joker stated.

"I'll be there in a sec," she replied before heading to the bridge noticing on the way there the following eyes of her crew. Glancing over them they nodded as they locked eyes before going back to cleaning their guns or conversing with the other crew members.

"What is it Joker?"

"Take a look for yourself," Joker gestured out the window.

In the middle of space surround by ship debris was a blue bubble that had a shadow of a humanoid figure in the center.

"Prep the shuttle, I want to investigate whatever th-"

"Commander, look something's happening!"

Turning to look back out at the mysterious bubble she saw it start to pulse lightly before dissipating completely, revealing the humanoid figure that was inside it.

"I want that shuttle to go now, tell Grunt and Samara to be on that shuttle ASAP!"

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**Once More With Feeling**

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_**Hey everyone like I promised I am back with second half of Chapter One. Now to address a comment, yes I know that I basically just took the end of Halo 4 and wrote it, but I tried to interlace a bit more compassion and feeling into it as well. As for this part of Chapter One what did you think of it?**_

_**You like what I've shown you of my Shepard? Take in mind that she's is not always like this; she's just got a temper once her limit is reached.**_

_**As for the way this is written what do you think? **_

_**I'm currently using third-person omniscient but I might change it to alternating, which is primarily third-person omniscient but switches to first person occasionally. (Like the Harry Potter Books)**_

_**As for romance, I am not too sure i put it in just in case, but let me know whether or not you wanna romance. There will be some emotional revealing moments (don't know how to phrase that exactly it's not romance but its not fluff, angst maybe.. hmm I don't know.) As i said let me know if you want romance or not**_

_**Finally I am loving the support for this story already its was better then the support I got for my Halo story, **__Two Unknown Spartans: Phoenix Squad._

_**FINALLY FINALLY: LOL, IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BETA MSG ME**  
_

_**Review!**_

_**Travis Castiel Olivera**_


	3. Chapter 2

Having brought the humanoid figure into the shuttle the group stood around it cautiously. "By the code what is it," Samara questioned her hand glowing with biotic power incase whatever it was decided to attack.

"I don't like it Shepard," Grunt stated shifting nervously while aiming his shotgun at it. The large size of the figure gave him a sense of uneasiness. "Why don't we just toss it back into space…after putting a few shots in it for good measure."

Crouching down Shepard began scanning the armored figure, "I'm not getting a reading on it, either it's a mech of some sort or the suit is blocking my readings. Noticing the weapons on its back, or what she assumed were weapons, she reached out towards the high-tech looking weapons. Grabbing what looked like a glowing set of metal rods with a scope attached she was extremely surprised when the weapon shifted into rifle, orange lights glowing throughout it.

"On second thought, lets take those and then throw it back into spa-" Grunt began only to be stopped mid sentence as the green behemoth swept its leg around knocking Samara and Shepard down while bringing Grunt down to his knees.

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_**Once More With Feeling**_

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Having noticed the primarily white ship approach, the Chief decided the best course of action was to play unconscious and wait for the best moment where he could make his move. 'There's no ship in the UNSC like that, possible hostiles…let's see what happens.'

Waiting there in space for the ship to pick him up and staying still has they brought him inside, even letting the human grab the Binary Rifle off his back. Listening two the three different species interact he waiting until a possible threat came to him before reacting. Sweeping his right leg in an arc connecting with all three, he used his momentum to jump up before grabbing the large dinosaur looking alien's head and bringing his knee into contact with it, knocking it unconscious. Spinning to his right he landed a series of lighting quick jabs at the blue alien that looked like it had tentacles on its head, eliminating that threat as well before turning to the only other human on the ship.

"Woah there," Shepard said putting the weapon down and raising her hands. "We don't mean to cause you any trouble. Now why did you attack us?"

"Unknown threat. Possible ally or foe. Went to incapacitate not kill." The Chief replied in short and clipped tones. "If I wanted you dead you'd be dead."

"Noted, now you gotta name?" Shepard asked receiving only a nod in response. "You wanna tell me." Once more receiving a jerk of the head this time meaning no.

"Ooook then, can you tell me your race."

Giving her a puzzled look, though he doubted she could see it with his helmet on. How had she not known what race he was everyone knew about Spartans, then again maybe this is some civilization from beyond the galaxy that had lost contact during the war. "I'm human like you."

"Last time I checked humans didn't come that big." Shepard joked albeit horribly. "That armor looks high-tech military are you part of the Alliance?"

"The Alliance? You mean the UNSC?"

"Yes, the Alliance." She repeated. "What's the UNSC?"

"The UNSC is the United Nations Space Command, they serve as humanity's military, exploratory and scientific agency of the Unified Earth Government, formed in the year 2163 and has stood strong to this very day 400 years later."

"Is that soo, well my crew and I are on a mission to save not just humanity but the galaxy at large we need all the help we can get. You said you're part of the military, what is you're rank?"

"Master Chief Petty Officer, Spartan II," he replied curtly.

"Well the Alliance doesn't have that rank unfortunately so you're out of luck. When we get back to the ship I can contact my superiors and figure out what to do, that is if you're willing to join up with the Alliance."

Taking a second he stood there before nodding back at her.

"Good," Shepard said clapping her hands together. "Well then lets get back to the ship shall we."

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_**Once More With Feeling**_

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He supposed he would be more adverse to the whole situation, being told the there was no UNSC, instead there was something called the Alliance. Not to mention the obvious difference in alien life and cooperation, however Spartans have adaptability ingrained in their very being and after everything he's gone through why wouldn't there be another bizarre thing to happen around him. This was going to be different, he knew that for sure; he always had the support of those he trusted most, whether it was his brothers and sisters or Cortana. That train of thought sent a pang of sadness through him and while he didn't know for sure, he knew deep down he would probably never see any of them again. He would endure as he always did because it was the only thing he had left and he wouldn't dare stop fighting whatever enemy came his way nor would he stop protecting all the innocents in the galaxy. Such ideas would disgrace not only his brothers and sisters who sacrificed themselves and those of them still alive but it would disgrace himself.

Reaching back towards his helmet his pulled Cortana's AI chip and brought it in front of him. He had just managed to retrieve it from the docking station on the Didact's ship before it dissolved. Examining it for the first time since retrieving it he noticed an extremely faint glow to it, noticeable only due to his augmented eyesight. 'Maybe,' he thought. 'Just maybe there's a chance to save her. Maybe this universe had more advanced technology; their ships certainly look more advanced at least from the outside. No ship in the UNSC was that small and had FTL abilities.' At least he assumed the ship did since there seemed to be nothing remotely habitable out here. Noticing the shuttle stop he replaced the chip back into his helmet while glancing at the two aliens he had knocked unconscious. Luckily they had yet to wake up which was good because it meant he didn't have to do it again considering the fact they would be ready to fight as soon as they remembered what happened.

"Hey EDI, do we have any free space for our new guest to stay," Shepard asked as she departed the shuttle. "By the way inform the crew of our guest and have Miranda, Jack, Liara, and Garrus come down and help get Grunt and Samara off the shuttle and to keep them from destroying the place to get to our new guest. Not that it would make much difference considering the Normandy's condition, but I'd rather not lose her again."

"Understood Commander," a female voice replied whom the Chief assumed to belong to this EDI. "As for space we only have room in the Cargo Bay."

"Surely we have something else EDI."

"I'll take it," the Chief interrupted bringing the conversation to a halt. It didn't really matter much to him considering that he didn't sleep much. He went through the whole situation on Requiem with no sleep and a few energy bars and water. "Commander Shepard, I expect your crew not to touch anything of mine; I like my privacy."

"Noted. Now if you'll follow me," she replied entering the elevator. As soon as he was in she sent it on its destination to the Command Deck.

Sighing as the elevator slowly brought them to their destination; for all the advanced technology could they seriously not make an elevator that did more than a slow pace? It was extremely awkward with how silent the armored behemoth was; it was easy to forget he was human with how large he was and the fact you couldn't even see his face. Not to mention every time she tried to initiate conversation with him she was met with either silence or a curt nod, it was…frustrating to say the least. Immediately exiting the elevator when it stopped, her haste created by the need to escape the awkward atmosphere.

Shortly after entering the comm room she activated a link to Admiral Hackett, "Admiral I have some interesting news for you."

"I already know Shepard, I was forwarded the information by the ships VI," Hackett said addressing Shepard before turning towards the Chief. "You say you were trained to protect humanity at all costs?"

"Yes sir."

"Then welcome aboard son. Since we do not have the rank of Master Chief, we assumed that it was the highest NCO rank possible and instated your new rank as Operations Chief." Hackett said as he tapped a few times on his Omni-tool. "Now I need to have a word with the Commander so you're dismissed."

The Chief nodded and turned on his heel before walking away. "I don't trust him not yet, Shepard. Keep an eye on him, if he makes one wrong move put him down." Hackett continued not knowing the Chief could still hear him.

"Yes sir," Shepard replied before deactivating the link. Quickly walking out, she looked around for the Chief but didn't see any sign of him. Shaking her head she headed back to her quarters to get some much needed and deserved sleep.

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_**Once More With Feeling**_

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Hearing the words of the Admiral didn't faze him; he knew they would be suspicious of him. Moving down the hall he entered the elevator headed for the storage bay, once it came to a stop he exited the elevator and took in his surroundings. There were boxes strewn all over the place from the obvious combat that the ship had been engaged in. Setting himself to work cleaning it up he replaced the items that had fallen out of the boxes and shifted the boxes to either side of the hallway creating an even more narrow choke point for anything that decided to be hostile. After finishing the reorganization of the boxes he set himself to examining the few weapons he still had. Having laid them down on the ground he picked each one up examining it; the binary rifle which was a one shot one kill sniper rifle, a suppressor which was the Forerunner equivalent of a machine gun with an extremely high rate of fire, a scattershot which shot multiple hard light shots with the ability to ricochet off surfaces, two frag grenades, two plasma grenades, two pulse grenades, a light rifle which had the option to fire either a three shot burst or fire one powerful shot at a time, next there was the two boltshot pistols which could be fired semi-automatic or charged to deliver a powerful shotgun like blast taking half of the ammo, and finally the incineration cannon which was like a mix between a rocket launcher and a flame thrower, firing four streams of explosive particles in a tight pattern which upon impact detonate and spread in four separate directions before detonating once more.

It wasn't widely known that the MJOLNIR armor could hold more than three weapons, but if someone were to think about it, it made sense considering that the magnetic plate was not a small one; the plate taking the top half of the back of the chestplate. As long as a person did not over encumber themselves and the weapons had most of their surface area connected then the armor could hold them.

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_**Once More With Feeling**_

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**Hey sorry I haven't posted in a while, just moved in to my new dorm and was taking some time to adjust and socialize. I had to end the chapter like this mainly because I wanted to give you something today.**

**As always review and I will try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible and will try to lengthen it and reveal more of the story however as I said I am in college and it takes priority.**

**Im not sure about the grammar in this, but I believe it is all good so ya.**

**Travis Castiel Olivera**


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